Dale Earnhardt Jr claimed pole position for the 53rd Great American Race with a lap of 186.89mph, the first time in his career that he has taken pole position at a restrictor plate vent, and coming on the emotional tenth anniversary of the death of his father during the 2001 Daytona 500.

The lap time of 48.364s was just 0.032s ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon (185.966mph), who will take the other spot on the front row alongside Earnhardt. Both drivers have new pit chiefs this year - Steve Letarte and Alan Gustafson for Earnhardt and Gordon respectively - and this was immediate pay-off for the reshuffle within the team over the off-season. The duo gave team owner Rick Hendrick his third front-row sweep for the Daytona 500 and his seventh pole position in total, Mark Martin having claimed pole last year for the team.

There was an impressive performance from rookie Trevor Baine (185.445mph) to set the third fastest time ahead what will be only his second Sprint Cup start.

Today's qualifying results mean that Earnhardt will start on pole for the first of Thursday's two Gatorade Duel 150 events, with Gordon taking pole for the second. Other than Earnhardt and Gordon, all the drivers still have to finalise their actual starting positions for the Daytona 500 with their performances during their Duel races.

The Duels also decide wo additional race starts being awarded in each of the two races to drivers not qualified by virtue of owners' points or their showing in qualifying. Among those drivers who had needed to qualify on speed who have today guaranteed themselves spots are Bill Elliott (17th fastest), Travis Kvapil (20th) and Joe Nemechek (21st). Terry Labonte is also an assured starter thanks to a provisional available to the most recent past champion not otherwise qualified.

Denny Hamlin's interesting weekend continued with a strange incident that saw his steering wheel come off in his hands as he exited the pits to make his qualifying run, causing him to run off onto the infield grass.

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